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Trader Mark submits:With the S&P 500 grasping at 1070, and yet another "90% day" as the student body has run back to the left ("risk off" stampede), let's take a look ahead at the key reports next week; both for the greater market and what we have our eyes on. The next three weeks are the heart of the earnings season, and some of our holdings begin to pop up next week.Names the market will focus on:Complete Story »

Graham and Dodd Investor submits:Harley Davidson (HOG) was formed in 1903 by William Harley, and Arthur Davidson, members of FDR's "Rendezvous With Destiny" Generation, which was much like today's Baby Boomers. This "pedigree" information is important, because it explains the company's initial success and recent revival, and predicts a second downfall. More "freewheeling" than the newly invented automobile, Harley Davidson motorcycles were also more affordable. More to the point, they gave members of the Boomlike "Rendezvous" generation, a sense of carefree exploration, together with a rugged individualism. At the time it was introduced, the members of the Rendezvous ranged in age from early 20s to early 40s, basically prime buying age for them.Complete Story »

Andrew Wilkinson submits: Cemex SAB de CV (CX) – Shares of the world’s third-largest cement maker are trading 1.15% higher during the current session to stand at $10.64, but wary options investors are beefing up on near-term put options on the stock ahead of Cemex’s first-quarter earnings report slated for release after the closing bell on April 26, 2010. Bearish options traders scooped up more than 30,000 put contracts at the May $10 strike for an average premium of $0.27 each. Put-buyers make money if shares of the underlying stock decline 8.5% from the current price to breach the average breakeven point on the puts at $9.73 by expiration day next month. Xerox Corp. (XRX) – Short straddle-strategists flooded the options field on Xerox Corp. today with shares of the printing and imaging solutions company trading 0.10% lower to $10.70 as of 12:40 pm (ET). The biggest straddle play employed on XRX thus far today appears to be the work of an investor who is expecting Xerox’s shares to rally up to $11.00 in the next several months. The trader sold 18,650 puts at the October $11 strike for a premium of $1.12 each, and sold 18,650 calls at the same strike for $0.76 apiece. Gross premium enjoyed on the transaction amounts to $1.88 per contract. The investor keeps the full amount of premium received if shares of the underlying stock settle at $11.00 at expiration. Parameters of the transaction suggest the trader expects, at the very least, to see XRX shares trade within a narrow range through expiration day. However, the investor is exposed to potentially devastating losses should Xerox shares rally above the upper breakeven price of $12.88, or should shares slip beneath the lower breakeven point at $9.12, ahead of October expiration. Complete Story »

theflyonthewall.com submits: Harley-Davidson (HOG) is expected to report Q1 earnings before the market open on Tuesday, April 20 with a conference call scheduled for 9:00 am ET. GuidanceAnalysts are looking for a profit of 24c on revenue of $1.02B. The consensus range is 3c-39c for EPS, and revenue of $914.3M-$1.21B, according to First Call. In January, the company forecast motorcycle shipments down 5%-10% for FY10, and said it expects to ship 201,000-212,000 motorcycles this year. CEO Keith Wandell noted that the company expects 2010 will continue to be a challenging year. Harley-Davidson was also the subject of LBO speculation this quarter, and Breakingviews said Kohlberg Kravis was named as a potential suitor. Breakingviews believes the idea of KKR or another buyout firm looking into Harley-Davidson "isn’t entirely crazy." Complete Story »

Stephen Castellano submits: "Low-Quality" Stocks Continue Their Run as Hard Data Lags Real-Time Improvements For some time now, we have been explaining how low-quality stocks have been surging to double-digit percentage gains over the last few months. The surge in Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions Inc. (MDRX) is a recent case in point. MGM Mirage (MGM) and Harley Davidson (HOG) are some others we have pointed to recently. Plenty of other stocks on our "low-quality" lists have been surging as well, and we think more could be on the way. It seems that many investors are continuing to ignore improving company fundamentals and increasingly large cash positions, while instead choosing to focus on grander thematic issues such as the 16% "underemployed" rate, a pending withdrawal of economic stimulus, our country's huge debt levels, the possibility of sovereign debt defaults and more generally the inevitable declining dominance of the U.S. in the global economic system. To these investors, the market is "wild", "random" and "stupid." There is no let-up in their fear-mongering as many stocks continue to make double-digit gains.Complete Story »

Frederic Ruffy submits: SentimentThe slow steady grind continues, with the stock market averages sporting modest gains late Friday. Stock index futures moved up along with European benchmarks in the morning hours after yields fell and fears receded in Greece's troubled debt markets. In the US, the day's news was light. The only economic stat of the day, a report on wholesale inventories at 10:00 a.m., showed an uptick of .6 percent and slightly more than the .4 percent increase that economists had expected.The market showed little reaction to the data and, instead, volatility remains light amid rangebound trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has traded in a narrow 59-point span and is up 39 points. With about an hour left to trade, the CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) was little changed at 16.46. Volume is slowing ahead of the weekend, with 5.8 million calls and 4.5 million puts traded so far.Complete Story »

Miriam Metzinger submits: Stocks discussed on the in-depth session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Thursday March 11. JDS Uniphase (JDSU), Cree (CREE), F-5 Networks (FFIV), Apple (AAPL), Akamai (AKAM), Salesforce.com (CRM), VMware (VMW), Oracle (ORCL)Complete Story »

J Clinton Hill submits:Hillbent scans the market for significant positive and negative earnings surprises which may be potential catalysts for future bullish or bearish price action. The results generated are not intended to be comprehensive but allow investors to focus on the top or bottom earnings results and provide a starting point for further research efforts and the market direction. It is important to note that a positive, negative, or in-line earnings surprise is not necessarily a respective overall positive, negative, or neutral event for a reporting company. Some of these companies may still be experiencing year-over-year positive, negative, or flat growth rates. Complete Story »

Brooks McFeely submits:4:14 PM, Jan 22, 2010 --

• DJIA down 216.90 (2.09%) to 10,172.98.
• S&P 500 down 24.72 (2.21%) to 1,091.76.
• Nasdaq down 60.41 (2.67%) to 2,205.29.

GLOBAL SENTIMENT Complete Story »

Ockham Research submits: “We’ve got Harley-Davidson (HOG) having a tough morning because their orders dropped 53% compared to the same period last year. Going to be a tough time in 2010…” — CNBC’s Squawk on the Street 1/22/2010 Iconic motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson reported an extremely rough fiscal fourth quarter on Friday morning in which the company lost $0.63 per share excluding one-time charges. Overall, including restructuring costs, the company reported a net loss of $218.7 million or $0.94 per share. This is the first quarterly loss for them since 1993, and it was nearly twice as wide a loss as analysts had anticipated. Profits have fallen in nine consecutive quarters and the bigger than expected fourth quarter loss dragged down the fiscal year to a lost $55.1 million or 24 cents per share.Complete Story »